Never Admit
by Causeway.Reck
Summary: Spoilers for chapter 247. Shikamaru x Temari. What happens before they bump into Naruto and Sakura. Disclaimer. Don't own Naruto or Sakura or Temari or Shikamaru or any of K.'s work.


Yo. This fic contains spoilers for chapter 247 and slight changing of the chapter. Hey it's fanfiction. There are no limits so to speak. So obviously it's Shikaramu x Temari. Oneshot. Shikmaru centric. Honest reviews please. I need to know how to improve.

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- N e v e r A d m i t -

Shikmaru wore his casual frown of annoyance as he walked beside the Kazekage's sister. He couldn't help but think how troublesome this whole escapade was. The brunette would much rather be chilling with Chouji - or better yet watching the clouds. His face frowned deeper when he felt the Sand messenger's hand almost brush against his own and cursed the itchy feeling it gave him. His spine shivered and he felt like the blond was walking to close to him. The brunette's hand twitched but he tried to ignore it, annoyed with how bothersome this ordeal was being. Normally it wasn't even worth thinking about how troublesome it was, because that, of course, was troublesome in itself.

When the jounin felt the air from Temari's slightly swinging hand again his breath hitched. What _was_ this troublesome feeling? Deciding he should waste no more time on wondering and just figure it out, Shikamaru closed his eyes - strategizing. No, he wouldn't let himself think that this wasn't worth doing; better to just get it over with for once. And then suddenly it hit him.

His eyes flew open and he found himself feeling really awkward. Since when had Temari bothered him this much? Since when had he harbored such troublesome feelings! Women were tiresome, not worth his time - and yet, here he felt awkward around her. He heaved a sigh, mumbling his favorite word as he looked away from the blond beside him. He would ponder this later... later meaning never.

"Problem?" Temari asked bluntly, giving the Konoha jounin a strange look. Shikamaru sighed again, "There's always a problem." He answered - in which he received a snort from the blond. The brunette was itching to put his hands in his pockets but that felt like it would be to noticeably strange to the kunoichi walking beside him. Kami-sama this feeling was tiresome! - He felt the beginnings of a headache in the back of his head! How could he get this feeling to go away? As the brunette thought this, his eyes wandered back to Temari's hand, and he got the feeling that it wasn't the pockets that his hand wanted right now. Shikamaru scoffed at the idea; but soon he realized this was true. And determined as he was to get this troublesome emotion to leave him alone - because of course, he just wanted it to go away, it wasn't because he actually _wanted_ to hold her hand or anything - he decided to follow through.

That proved more difficult than Shikamaru thought. He tried several times, each failing because of this annoying and unexplainable queeziness he felt. For once he was actually trying something, and it wasn't working. Maybe he should just give it up and deal with it, after all it would be less troubleso- that's it! Temari's hand grazed past his for the third time, sending his stomach in an acrobatic flip and before he could stop himself he felt his hand slip in front of the kunoichi's and he gripped it rather possessively.

"O-oi!" Temari said, completely shocked, "Shikam-" The blond fell silent when she saw a slight cocky smirk on the jounin's face quickly replaced by his usual annoyed expression. Grinning slightly, she relaxed her stunned hand and let hold loosely of Shikamaru's hand. "You could've said something first." Temari jaunted, watching the leaf shinobi's face from the corner of her eye.  
"To troublesome." Shikamaru answered simply.  
Temari exhaled, grinning. "Should've expected that"  
"Well this answers my question. This troublesome situation was worth is after all, even though it was tiresome." The brunette mumbled. Temari frowned, wondering what he meant and was about to ask him but was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Shikamaru! Temari-san! Hey!"

In an instant the two shinobi's hands were at their sides and they both refused to look at eachother. Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets, maintaining an extremely annoyed face and Temari recollected herself quite easily.

"Guess who it is!" The familiar voice was Sakura, who was pointing to someone a few feet behind her. Shikamaru followed her finger to the figure of a distracted Uzumaki Naruto.

"Hey! If it isn't Naruto!" Said boy spun around quickly,  
"Shikamaru"  
"Did you just get back"  
"No, I came back yeserday!" Naruto replied. Shikamaru smirked,  
"So has any of your idiocy left you? Have you changed at all"  
"No, he hasn't changed at all." Sakura replied in a huff, hand on hip.  
"Ah... really"  
"Sakuraaa-chan!" Naruto whined, but recovered himself when he noticed Temari for the first time standing and looking pouty.  
"So, are you on a date too?" He grinned deviantly.

Shikamaru hid his surprise and managed a glimpse at Temari who looked rather disgusted at Naruto's words and decided to tell the truth. Well... half truth. "...that's not it." Before he even finished he heard Temari puff beside him.

"You're joking! Why would I go out with such a..." Temari started, cursing for not finding an ending. She was pissed for an unrighteous reason - the fact Shikamaru hadn't said anything - and that pissed her off more. "There's a Chuunin exam soon. I'm just going back and forth between the Sand for meetings."

Sakura grinned at Temari, the two were pretty good aquaintences. "Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw you two holding hands." She teased, and Temari shot her a glare. "Yeah right." She huffed. "Really?" Sakura prodded.  
"Never." Temari all but spat.

Shikamaru frowned. This was all so troublesome! Of course he was glad to see Naruto after so long, but the timing was horrible! He had even considered asking Temari to go cloud-watching with him after his mission. That was a rare occasion! Now it simply couldn't be. Not just because it would be more troublesome, but because she was obviously annoyed with him. Women! So troublesome!

The brunette noticed Naruto's curious look from him to Temari. Shikamaru grunted in answer. Like he'd tell Naruto.

They might know they like eachother, but for the time being, they'd never admit it.


End file.
